Expansion Pass DLC

The Expansion Pass adds two waves of content to Age of Calamity for $19.99. Pulse of the Ancients (Wave 1) opens the EX Royal Ancient Lab and brings the Battle-Tested Guardian, a Flail for Link, the Master Cycle for Zelda, Vicious Monsters and Apocalyptic difficulty. Guardian of Remembrance (Wave 2) adds eight EX scenarios, the warriors Sooga and Purah & Robbie, the boss Mutated Ganon, new weapons and ten more challenges. Wave 1 starts at the lab icon on the map; Wave 2 starts from the EX chapter.

What the pass includes

Buying the pass gives you a pair of bonus items first, then each wave arrives as an update. Both waves are included in the same purchase, and the base game must be updated before the content shows up. The table gives the extra content side by side.

Purchase bonus

After buying the pass you receive the Prototype Ancient Short Sword and Prototype Ancient Gear the next time you enter the game. They cannot be sold. They are a stand-in for the early game until you find or fuse stronger weapons; see the weapons page.

Wave 1: Pulse of the Ancients

How to start

After the pass is installed, an EX Royal Ancient Lab icon (an Ancient Screw with EX) appears in Central Hyrule on the Hyrule map. Open it and take the first lab quest, Roll Out the Research, which costs 800 Rupees and gives 5 Robbie’s Maintenance Oil. Everything else in the wave grows from that quest. The lab uses ten new materials: Guardian Claw, High-Yield Ancient Furnace, Robbie’s Maintenance Oil, Robbie’s Machine Lubricant, Robbie’s Curing Agent, and the Reports on Monster Ecology, Relic Analysis, Battle Records, Material Properties and Vicious Monsters. Reports come from Vicious Monster battles. The Royal Ancient Lab page lists every lab quest, EX challenge and EX Alert in full.

First lab quests

Roll Out the Research opens three branches: Sensor of the Heart, The Technology of Disassembly and The Menace of Vicious Monsters. Sensor of the Heart raises the drops of registered materials and leads to the apple quests An Abundance of Apples, Frugal Fruit, Hungry Hunches and An Apple a Day, which cut apple prices, reduce cooking ingredients and raise apple healing. Turn Up the Heat, after An Apple a Day, lengthens the effect of the rods. The Technology of Disassembly improves the chance of Ancient item drops and opens the Flail line.

Vicious Monsters

The Menace of Vicious Monsters (Bokoblin Trophy x500, Moblin Trophy x20, Chuchu Trophy x30, Wizzrobe Trophy x10) lets you challenge Vicious Monsters, which are stronger versions of ordinary foes. Up to three sightings appear on the map at a time, and defeating one gives a Report: Vicious Monsters. The eleven types are Battle-Tested Guardian, Blizzrobe, Thunder Wizzrobe, Meteo Wizzrobe, Fire Chuchu, Electric Chuchu, Ice Chuchu, Silver Lynel, Black Hinox, Silver Moblin and Stone Talus. After this quest, The Source of Strength and Analyzing Vicious Behavior (which shows Vicious Monsters in Battle Info) unlock, as does Power Play: Bombs Away.

Link’s Flail

The Flail line runs A Helping Claw (rewards the Guardian Flail), Magnificent Mass (Fortified Flail) and The Blazing-Blue Blades (Ancient Bladed Flail), followed by Applied Research: Clawsome Power (defeat 1,000 enemies with the Flail), Applied Research: Royal Guardians and Applied Research: Magnetic Inspiration (copy 20 weapons with the Flail). The Flail copies an enemy’s weapon when you use ZR to power up your attacks. Two challenges, EX Link: Flails and EX Zelda: Master Cycle, are recommended at level 5 and teach the new moves.

Zelda’s Master Cycle

The Power Play quests need the right rune work: Bombs Away (100 enemies with Remote Bombs), Nice and Icy (freeze 60 with Cryonis), Magnetic Mayhem (throw back 5 weapons with Magnesis) and Go with the Flow (stop 100 with Stasis, after The Many Sources of Strength). Finish Magnetic Mayhem, Nice and Icy and Go with the Flow to unlock Top-Secret Request, which gives Zelda the Master Cycle. Present for the Princess (1,000 enemies with the Master Cycle) then leads to Riding Free (Master Cycle Hunter), Safety First, Better Safe Than Sorry (Master Cycle Sentinel) and Ride On (15 Master Cycle perfect dodges).

Weapon capacity, level cap and seals

The Source of Strength adds 10 weapon slots and The Many Sources of Strength adds 20 more. Working with the Blacksmith Guild (Topaz x5, Giant Ancient Core x10, Report: Vicious Monsters x5, 5,000 Rupees) raises the weapon-level limit to 50, and The Deal with Seals lets you remove hidden seals. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme improves the quality of weapons you find, and Supporting the Local Economy adds new stock at merchants. For the Blacksmith, see Blacksmith, Training Ground and Shops.

Battle-Tested Guardian

To unlock this warrior, finish Applied Research: Clawsome Power and Top-Secret Request, then The Ultimate Relic and The Relic of Legend, which need The Future of Hyrule to be cleared and cost Reports on Relic Analysis, Monster Ecology, Battle Records and Vicious Monsters. That opens the challenge EX Alert: Forgotten Temple, in which no healing items appear and the boss is the Battle-Tested Guardian. Clear it, then complete the quest The Battle-Tested Guardian (3 Report: Relic Analysis and 1 Report: Vicious Monsters). The Guardian uses the Battle-Tested Ancient Part, locks on to an enemy with ZR so strong attacks aim themselves, and has a 6-hit regular string.

Apocalyptic difficulty

Wave 1 also adds the Apocalyptic setting, the hardest difficulty. It is selectable like the others in the Options menu; see Combat, Controls and Beginner Tips.

Wave 1 challenges

Wave 1 adds 15 EX challenges, all of which pay out at least a few materials and often a weapon. The six respawning EX Alert battles (Great Hyrule Forest, Breach of Demise, Hyrule Field, Crenel Peak, Hyrule Outpost and Akkala Citadel) and EX Alert: Forgotten Temple are Vicious Monster fights. Their levels rise as you progress.

Clear EX Link: Flails and EX Zelda: Master Cycle first, since they are the only low-level entries; the rest expect a warrior near the raised level cap and sit between levels 50 and 91.

Wave 2: Guardian of Remembrance

How to start

With Wave 2 installed, a new EX chapter appears on the Hyrule map beside the main story, starting with EX To Zelda’s Side, recommended at level 40. After EX To Zelda’s Side, four Lv 44 battles can be played in any order, then the remaining three follow in sequence. Each scenario has Memory Quests, optional goals that pay Report: Hidden Battles and materials. Reports on Hidden Battles are required for most of the new Wave 2 quests. Wave 2 also adds Coliseum, Kakariko Village, Goponga Village and Lanayru Road as stages.

The eight EX scenarios

Each battle has its own walkthrough page. The first opens the four Lv 44 battles, which can be played in any order, and the last opens only after every other EX battle is cleared.

Sooga

Sooga becomes playable during EX The Yiga Clan’s Retreat: “You can now play as Sooga!” shows mid-battle after he makes his stand against the Blight Ganons (seen on a replay; the first clear ended with him saying he can go no further). The battle’s three Memory Quests are to defeat every Blight Ganon, to counter a Blight Ganon with a Sheikah rune, and to let no ally flee (the third pays Report: Hidden Battles x3, Diamond x5 and 2,000 Rupees). He fights with Dual Swords (Swords of Ferocity, Devotion and Valiance). His ZR is the Unseeing Eye counter stance, which you can use in the middle of a combo; each counter powers the next reprisal and stacks to three, and a hit after the last counter resets the stacks.

Purah & Robbie

Purah & Robbie join when you complete EX Guardian of Remembrance, which opens only after every other EX battle is cleared; their introduction plays after the results screen, and the quest EX The Only Option follows. They wield Sheikah Arms (Prototype, Refined and Ultimate), attacking with one of four elements through ZR, and the elements can hurt your own character. Their regular string runs to seven hits.

Mutated Ganon

Mutated Ganon is the final boss of the pass and appears on Mount Daphnes in two phases. In phase 1, the eye at ground level is the weak point. In phase 2 its weapons get their own gauges and become lock-on targets, and it is the only enemy that Stasis cannot stop without a rune counter. The challenges EX The Final Battle and EX Facing Mutated Ganon bring it back for rewards.

Champion and Hero weapons

The A Royal Gift quests give weapons to the Champions and Hyrule’s heroes. Each needs Report: Hidden Battles x3 and Report: Vicious Monsters x2 plus materials. Their rewards are the Serene Champion’s Spear (A Royal Gift for Mipha), the Steadfast Champion’s Greatsword (Daruk), the Soaring Champion’s Bow (Revali), the Nimble Champion’s Sword (Urbosa), the Gallant Hero’s Spear (Sidon), the Stalwart Hero’s Feast (Yunobo), the Swift Hero’s Bow (Teba) and the Thunderous Hero’s Bridle (Riju).

EX Enhanced Ability quests

Each warrior and weapon type gains an EX Enhanced Ability quest in Wave 2, which needs Report: Hidden Battles x1 and local materials. Examples include EX The Text of Tomorrow (one-handed weapons), EX Hasty Recovery (two-handed), EX Spear Master (spears), EX A Giant Leap (Sheikah Slate), EX Awkward Allies (Bow of Light), EX Keeping a Promise (Mipha), EX The Art of Flight (Revali), EX Law of the Gerudo (Urbosa) and EX Korok Curiosity (Hestu). They give the warrior a boosted ability.

Wave 2 challenges

Wave 2 adds ten challenges and four more repeatable EX Alert battles: Goponga Village, Kakariko Village, Lanayru Road and Mount Daphnes. The EX Alert: Mount Daphnes first clear pays Diamond x1, Hylian Rice x10, Tabantha Wheat x10 and 700 Green Rupees.

For the full challenge lists, including the EX entries, see the challenges page, and for the quests that these waves add, see the quests page.